As a result of increased requirements for environmental compatibility of chemical reactions, new reactions, production methods and reaction systems with which known or new chemical compounds can be produced in an efficient and environmentally friendly manner are of particular interest.
From ecological points of view, it is particularly important to reduce the energy consumption of chemical reactions and to minimize as far as possible or avoid entirely the use of organic solvents. In many industrial processes today, at least part of the organic solvent is already substituted by water as the reaction medium, provided that the product being prepared does not decompose in or react with water.
Through the use of enzymes, the efficiency of reactions in aqueous reaction media can be increased further. Thus, for example, Landfester et al. describe an effective preparation of carboxylic acid esters in mini-emulsions using lipases (Chem. Eur. J. 2009, 15, 2434-2444), wherein linear C7-12 carboxylic acids are reacted with primary alcohols carrying phenyl groups.
Regardless of the state of the art, a need still exists to provide new production methods and/or reaction systems with which known or new chemical compounds can be prepared in an efficient and environmentally friendly manner.